The good news is that when you buy online you have even more rights than if you buy something from a shop. So what are they? The distance selling regulations say goods or services must be delivered or provided within 30 days of the date of your order or by the date you agreed. If not, you have the right to a full refund.

Also if you change your mind and want to cancel you can usually get a full refund, plus standard delivery costs, if you cancel anytime from when you first placed your order up to 7 working days after the date the goods were delivered or the date you’ve signed up for a service.

When you make a purchase, the trader should give you their name, address, product and delivery details, costs and cancellation rights. If they don’t, you may have even longer to cancel.

But there are some times when these rights don’t apply.

These are when you buy financial services, something from an online auction or from another consumer on the web. Sometimes you won’t be able to cancel services or return goods, for example if they are:

perishable like food or flowers…

a newspaper or magazine…

a computer game, CD or DVD where the security seal has been broken

for services like music downloads

because you’ll probably have already agreed and received the goods before the end of the 7-day cooling off period.

Next time you buy anything online, be smart. Make sure you check… price comparison websites and different search engines to get the best deal, the name and full address of the seller and their reputation by looking at customer reviews, your cancellation rights before you buy and the Terms and Conditions – What does the price include? And who pays for returning the goods- you or them?

Like this:

Related

About suffolktradingstandardsSuffolk Trading Standards is working towards creating and fair and safe trading environment. By creating empowered consumers, that are armed with the knowledge to stop 'rogue traders'.